Breakaway Tiger leader sworn into Sri Lanka parliament

Former Tamil Tigers rebel leader Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (bottom L), also known as Karuna Amman, takes an oath as he is sworn in as a member of parliament while speaker W.J.M. Lokubandara (R) listens at the Parliament Chamber in Colombo, October 7, 2008.

COLOMBO (Reuters) -- An ex-Tamil Tiger leader who allied with the government to win eastern Sri Lanka back from the separatist rebels last year took his oath as a legislator on Tuesday, capping a remarkable political metamorphosis.

But as soon as Vinayagamoorthi Muralitheran, who just three months ago finished a U.K. jail term and narrowly avoided war crimes charges, was sworn in, political opponents immediately challenged his appointment in court.

"Tamil people can now have the faith of solving their own problems through parliamentary democracy. We should forget the bitter past experiences and work to win the trust of the Tamils," the man known best by his nom de guerre, Col. Karuna Amman, told parliament.

The Marxist JVP party sued in the Supreme Court to have him removed, arguing that the vacancy he took belongs to them because it opened up when one of their politicians won a powerful provincial post in August.

Muralitheran sat on the back benches on the government side, after spending more than a decade in the Indian Ocean island nation's jungles battling Sri Lanka's government as the eastern commander for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

He was arrested last year in Britain and pleaded guilty to carrying a false passport, serving six months in jail before returning to Sri Lanka in July.

While there, rights groups tried to have him charged with war crimes, but the U.K. government said evidence was insufficient.

Muralitheran's Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pullikal (TMVP) party was created from Tigers loyal to him who split with the main group in 2004, and began launching hit-and-run attacks on their former comrades.

'WON'T CHANGE HIS SPOTS'

The TMVP became a critical partner to the government in winning back the parts of eastern Sri Lanka held by the Tigers, but rights groups say they are guilty of rights abuses, war crimes and of abducting children to use as fighters.

The TMVP has denied the allegations.

At polls in March in the Eastern Province, ex-Tiger fighter Sivanesathurai Chandra Kanthan won the powerful chief minister position on a TMVP ticket, at polls widely criticised for the fact the ex-Tigers were carrying weapons during the voting.

Some diplomats said they hoped the move might act as a sweetener in trying to encourage other senior Tiger commanders to come into the political process, but others were sceptical.

"I don't think giving them political legitimacy changes their behavior. I think that is naive. Karuna is not going to change his spots," a Western diplomat said. "This is just a reward. What is he going to do in parliament?"

The LTTE since 1983 has waged a civil war to create a homeland for Sri Lanka's minority Tamils, who have complained of marginalisation by successive governments led by the Sinhalese majority since independence from Britain in 1948.

In the latest fighting, the military on Tuesday said 23 rebels were killed and 35 were wounded, while one soldier was killed and seven were wounded in fighting the day before.

Attack helicopters carried out sorties on LTTE bunkers and artillery positions, part of an intensifying drive to wipe out the Tigers and capture their headquarters town of Kilinochchi. Soldiers are within 2 km of its outskirts.

(Additional reporting by Ranga Sirilal)